Thread by @Openly

If you’re a fan of books or films you might have heard of the “Bechdel Test” before. It’s a way to measure the representation of women in fiction.

What you might not be aware of are its origins in LGBT+ pop culture. Buckle up for a 🧵.

#LGBTHM21

First, some background. What is the Bechdel Test anyway?

It’s simple. To pass the test the film needs:

1⃣ At least two women in it...
2⃣ ...who talk to each other...
3⃣ ...about something other than a man

Its creator is @AlisonBechdel, a prominent cartoonist in the US. Her comics and graphic novels talk about everything from sexuality, gender roles and dysfunctional family life.

Her memoir “Fun Home,” based on her childhood, was adapted into a Broadway musical in 2013.

You might be surprised to learn that the test wasn’t created in an academic paper or for a conference, but in a comic called ‘Dykes To Watch Out For’.

Bechdel published the series between 1983 and 2008.

The comic series was one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in pop culture, published in Funny Times and feminist newspapers like WomaNews.

It showed the lives of a diverse group of people, most of them lesbians, their romantic lives and political struggles.

The “Bechdel Test” first appeared in a comic called “The Rule”, which was published in 1985.

So where did the idea come from?

Bechdel credits her friend Liz Wallace (the test is also called “Wallace-Bechdel”) as well as acclaimed 20th-century British author Virginia Woolf, who noticed that women in literature were always written “in their relation to men”.

But this all leads to one question: How did the “Bechdel Test” go from a comic strip to something that’s known around the world?

The test was talked about by the readers of the comic and in feminist circles for years. In the early 2010s, blogs and publications such as the New Yorker started to cite it and it grew from there.

In interviews, Bechdel herself has said she has been surprised to see the test become so popular.

And while it’s helpful, she admits that some of her favourite movies "don’t pass the test at all”.

Nowadays, the test isn’t just used in films and literature, but also in different fields such as politics and academia.

You even have different adaptations like the Deggans Rule, about non-white characters and the Vito Russo test, which is about LGBT+ characters.

Now the moment of truth: Does your favourite film pass the Bechdel Test?

Let us know in the replies!